Alandriel: Funny thatyou mentioned people acting things out before they write them. The thing is, I am in a theatre class at school and we had to write our own short play. I actually acted it out while I was writing it to see if it made sense. I guess I did pretty well, because when my group acted it out, we got an A. I was surprised because it was a a really stupid version of the three little pigs, including a dumb blonde pig and a grandma who hits the wolf with her cane. We wnet a full minute over the time limit, but I guess it didn't matter. I'm glad you think i'll be a good RPer!

Leoba: As for what i wanted to know-nothing speecific, just anything you might feel like telling me. If you don't have anything to say, that's fine. I read your description of yourself in the first post. you sound cool.

I just want to say that it feels good to be here, and I think now is a good time for a group hug!

I just read your OOC Bree thread, and this one, and it all sounds interesting. I've been gently dabbling in RP but it has been mostly lightweight stuff, and plotless. I have a large number of characters, with little depth. I'd like to get into a serious RP, but as a noob, I don't want to ruin a serious RP, so this apprentice method sounds like a good compromise.

I met Leoba, Din, TrueHobbit, and Berhael in person at a minimoot in London last year, with my daughter, Aiwe, who is a far better RPer than I could ever hope to be. I've met the rest of you on this thread in various places on the boards, or at least lurked in your threads, except Hunter, Areanor, and lhaewin **waves**. I have been mostly a m00b, but that has petered out of late, so now I wander all over the boards. In real life, I TORC ... no wait ... in real life I am an engineer, mother, wife, and part time student (Strategic Planning), living in Alaska.

My characters to date [and posting name]:

Annaerual, my eldest, a baker's wife, pops into the LFI and the 'Pot to sell baked goods. Loves to listen to travelers telling their tales when they visit her bakery, so she has joined the Bards Guild and can occasionally slip out of the bakery to join the other bards in a festival. [annaerual]

Ursula Beornsdotter, a beorning, itinerant honey gatherer, older, grizzle-haired female, usually solitary, but has also popped into the LFI, to sell honey. Turning into a bear is handy for gathering the honey, but she's generally non-aggressive. [annaerual]

Ambar (yes, that means "doom" in Quenyan), a girl of (desheveled) Gondorian dress whom Ursula found running through the woods one day. Speaks assorted languages she "learned from sailors". Probably was the daughter of a longshoreman or merchant and the recent sole survivor of an ambush, but her story hasn't come out yet. [annaerual]

The Warrens, a hobbit family, with matriarch Salvia, quiet husband Rudibras (a wheelwright), tweenagers Rando (the slightly wild one) and Ringo (the painfully shy one), and Chrysanthemum (Chrys, the young girl with too much time on her hands), who have made appearances at the LFI, the 'Pot, and MOME.[hobbituated]

And my other "children" who are mostly cliches, not yet developing into anything meaningful, including: EagleChild (not sure if EC is an eagle, a person, or a pub), PosterChild (non-RP), Laureanna (the bearer of Theobroma the Life Ring of Chocolate), Eomermaid (a swooner) and the pair you have already met on this thread.

Currently enjoying the insanity of MOME - the Men of Middle Earth beauty pagent, as Annatar, the suave Deceiver, which has been quite enjoyable. [*Annatar*, TheOneRingChap, *Lord*Sauron*, hobbituated, eomermaid, and Laureanna]

So would one of you like to have me as an apprentice? I'm not sure if any of my characters would work in your story, or if I should just go ahead and start yet another character.

I've seen you writing all over the place, well, in the LFI and Bards' festivals. But by all means, if you're looking for a route into some serious RP then that's one of the things we really want to be able to help with. And just as you've confessed to lurking in half of our abodes, I too should admit to reading far more than I post. I guess that's one of the mixed blessings of message boards; never quite being sure how many people read your life snippets! If I may ask, when you say "the pair you have already met on this thread" are you talking about both sides of janus or are you also Shirayuki-hime?

I'm not going to presume to pick a character from your selection. When it comes to choosing a main character to bring into a story, it's really the individual writer's call. After all, you have to live with that character for months, sometimes years, and be able to handle thinking in that skin. So, so long as s/he fits the story, go with what you feel happiest with - or indeed create something new with no previous RP baggage to worry about!

Now I know that you're particularly passionate about making your characters feel 'real', having a purpose, an income, family ties etc. Which is making me grin from ear to ear. That sounds perfect to me. And really, so long as you work with a character that fits into the scenario that you shouldn't have too many problems. A society like third age Bree presents the opportunity to write a character who fits into the community solidly (as I'm trying to do with my miller, or Impenitent with her innkeepers) without having to find reasons for them trekking half way across the known world. Or you can choose to write an ousider. Either way, I think between our creative minds we should come up with a fun story.

If you want to email me I'm on leobavorima at yahoo dot co dot uk. I'm not going to volunteer to directly mentor you, before anyone else has the chance, as I've undertaken to mentor Berhael. But I think I can speak for all of us when I say that you are most welcome and that we're all availble to help and support each other to the best of our ability.

I haven't been receiving updates to this thread (just for a change ) so when you told me you'd posted, like a fool I went to the Pony thread, to which I AM receiving updates - and have been trying to work out which of the most recent posters in that thread you could possibly be!

Neither, as I now see.

Welcome! and I'm so glad you're here! I'm looking forward to the opportunity of getting to know you better through the process of writing and plotting as well as general chewing-the-fat.

I'd be honoured to assist in any way I can. I agree with Leoba that you are the only one who can judge which is the character who feels most comfortable to you in the story you are writing, as long as the character stimulates you so that you are motivated to maintain him/her along the way.

Impenitent wrote:- and have been trying to work out which of the most recent posters in that thread you could possibly be!

Neither, as I now see.

LOL I'm definitely not N-N, though I admire her work, and I'm not michelle, the other dyslexic , or Shirayuki-hime. Just the ones I've mentioned, and J/S, and, um, at least two others that I can recall, but they don't get out much.

Let me give my new character some serious consideration, then I will post him/her/it. It may have to wait until the end of the month, as I am in full satire mode at MOME.

A belated greetings to the newcomers; Ihaewin, Ellehcim and laureanna.

Its not surprising that hardly anyone recognizes my name, for I rarely post outside the Pony but I recognize your names, but I'm not sure from where. On occassion I do lurk in a few other forums, but rarely ever post. I guess I'm one of those posters who just enjoys reading.

Anyway, welcome to the Players. I'm looking forward to meeting those of you who decide to journey in the Prelude to Bree Rp.

Areanor, please forgive my bluntness here in public (I don't have your email address). With 7 adopters in here, plus adoptees, I fear it can get rather confusing as to who is adopting. With that in mind, we'd prefer to keep chat to the chat threads in so far as is practical and though it's really flattering to have friends pop by, we'd ask to keep this thread for adoption business only. Please, please do drop by the Orphans (and lurk to your heart's content in the RP). We'd love to have you over there.

Ellehcim, how's the character creation coming on? not that there's any pressure, but I'd hate to think of you struggling if you're not familar with the dateline. Please do post or drop any of us an email if you want some support.

I have bad news. I'm not going to be able to join the Prelude to Bree RP. I just joined a club in school and I've been loaded with homework lately. I'm also beginning to learn Quenya at councilofelrond.com. I'm trying to really focus on studying that so I'll know it well. I just don't have time to create a whole new character, let alone keep her going in the story. It's too bad, though, because I was really looking foorward to it. Hopefully, things will begin to slow down soon. Well, that's all I have time to write now. (see, again with the being busy!) Bye for now.

No worries Ellehcim. I know only too well how real life gets in the way pof writing. I do hope though that you're not giving up entirely on RP. The Lucky Fortune is always bubbling and we'll have the White Council Awards soon too which is always a good excuse for some light hearted writing fun. And you know, if you ever have some time and change your mind, you'll be very welcome to come and join us in Bree for a spell.

Good luck with learning Quenya! I'm suitably impressed, having failed to master more than some elemetary vocab. I'm just not a linguist!

Okay, I have a question. (told ya I'd have one soon ) What exactly is meant by "spam"? I know we aren't supposed to advertise or anything, but I have noticed people saying others are spamming. I just don't seem to see where. Is there more to it than just advertising, or am I just blind?

Spamming is rather broadly defined as gratuitous posting of the kind that should really take place on a Chat program (ie having a huge run of one-liner posts in a to-and-fro conversation with another poster, rather than discussion on a particular point) or posting short, no point posts for the purposes of upping your post count.

It really is a broad definition though; there is a fine line and one person's spam is another person's inclusive, fun discussion.

On TORC the convention is to make posts that are coherent and have some point to them - and if the conversation is a private one, just between two people then take it an IM chat program.

LOL Ellehcim. You will get used to it. You should pop in to see us the the 'Orphans in Exile' in the Bird & Baby by the way. We can teach you all sorts of TORC habbits

And I am almost ready to get the RP moving, the Bree Map is being inked, the initial post is ready to roll (after spell checking and tense checking ) so sometime very soon we will need inital posts guys.

Oh and as for the first plot.....well its highway robbery in Bree at the moment BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Yeah, I think I'm already beginning to get the hang of it, Dindraug. I'll be sure to pop into 'Orphans in Exile'. Everyone has been saying that would be good for me, and I've been meaning to lately, but I keep getting wrapped up in something and forgetting...(hastens over to'Orphans in Exile' because she's worried she'll forget if she lingers too long)

Orphans not a bad place to hang out, but then I'm biased, given I've been running an incarnation of such a thread, as a chat/adoption/RPers hangout, since I was a whole month old on TORC myself.

'Tis good to se you over there Ellehcim.

I'd also urge to you not to feel nervous about jumping into any of the chat threads over in Talk (The Bird & Baby). Unfortunately they can look a bit cliquey from an outsider perspective but people are very warm and welcoming once you stop to say hi - even if sometimes you have to jump up and down a bit to get noticed.

Well everyone, I am here to announce (and celebrate!) a very special occasion! Tomorrow is my one-month anniversary on TORC!!! Also, this is my 100th post!! I realized I had 97 posts yesterday, so I decided to start the "party" at my 100th. Now I have one of those creepy-looking eye things!! Cake and ice cream for everyone!!! I baked the cake myself. It's whatever flavor you want it to be!! (I'm good at baking magical cakes) So everybody, thanks for making my first month on TORC a totally awesome experience!! I'm starting the celebration today because I want it to last a couple of days. At school, the first quater just ended yesterday and TORC made it go by so fast all month!! Well, I'm gonna go eat a real piece of cake because my mom bought one for no reason and I feel like baking it. Well, all I have left to say is:

I am so glad you're enjoying yourself and finding your feet - there can never be too many people with RPish tendencies on TORC. Keep on and before you know it you'll be as addicted to this wonderful place as the rest of us. :)

:D:D:D

Psst: it's not a 'creepy looking eye thing' It's supposed to be a pink shield, but more commonly known as the 'booby shield'.

I just noticed something...my last post wasn't really my 100th!! I actually noticed a few hours after I posted my "100th" but then my computer kicked me offline and wouldn't let me back on until today!! It even made me miss my 1-month anniversary!! Oh I'll get over it(see, I already have ) Anyway, back to my story. One of my posts was a double-post, so it really didn't count. So technically, this is my 100th post. YAY!! That gives me a reason to give out more magical food!! This time it's cupcakes!!! Yummy! So another grouphug and another excuse to overuse smilies!! Yipee!

PS-Leoba Thanks for the congrats. Oh, it's a shield. I see it now! I still think it sort of looks like a creepy eye thing, though. Whatever. And I think I am already addicted, every morning when I wake up I check if I have mail to see if anyone posted on my favorite threads, and I check again right when I get home from prettymuch anywhere, and whenever I'm just bored and just before I go to bed, and...wait, am I getting a little obsessive? I don't care even if I am because soooooooooooo much!!!! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!(no idea why I said that-LOL)

Shock shock surprise surprise everybody!!!! I have another important occasion to share! I'll make this one shorter. Today is my birthday! And you'll never guess what else! I was given the gift of premiere membership today!! I love whoever gave it to me. Funny how it came on my birthday...Anyway, am I boring you all with my talk of all my excitingness? I'm sorry if I am, but it's fun for me!! LOL

Hi i'm spook!!! My friend Ellehcim told me to join so i did and here i am feeling like i'm talking to myself on the phone with Ellehcim! But thats O.K! I just wanna say a little stuff about me just so u can get a thought of who i am. I like to play soccer, watch horror movies, listen tooooooo music, hang with the peoples, and talk....... Alot! I don't quite know a whole bundle of LOTR but Ellehcim said id have fun here anyways. I'm glad to be here and i feel that this is getting a little to long so, ..... 2 more things ........; is there anything you would like to know about me? and . . . . . I must leave now so i will hopefully talk to some of you later! Toodles!!!

Hey Spook, glad you made it over! I hope you come to like this place as much as the rest of us!! I know everyone will welcome you with open arms! They welcomed me quickly and I love them all for it! I know you don't know much about LOTR, but you should have fun here anyway!! Here is a list of places you should join us(read the first posts on these before you post):

Andd Ohhhhhhhhhh, you brought in a newbie for us to welcome. Hi Spook, welcome to TORC and to the Players. I am sure we will get you involved in Tolkiens world, and the fun environs of this messageboard as well.

Ummm, what to know about you. Well, what country are you from? I have to ask because you use Toodles and Soccer in your post, which makes me think your a Brit. But we Brits don't call Football Soccer so I am confused, but Toodles is a fairly Brit thing to say. I am British, as are Leoba and Edain, but we also have a mix of Europenas in here too.

Ummm, mystery.

Oh, and do you do role play or write, which is the most intrigueing thing in this this thread?

Hello everybody. I was IMing a friend yesterday.. there's a possibility that she might join us, or just RP in general here. She's had some experience of LARP and what I've read of her Tolkien fanfic is very good (in fact, I hesitate in calling it fanfic)... ah well... I'll give her the link to this thread.